Page 16 - Christie's Hong Kong May 30, 2017 Zhang Daqian
P. 16
A resplendent vision rendered on magnificent scale, Ancient
Temples Amidst Clouds is a masterpiece that can hardly be
surpassed in sublimity or grandeur within Zhang Daqian’s
splashed-ink and splashed-colour oeuvre.With extraordinary
technical virtuosity, the artist conjures a glorious sight
to behold: a mountain splintering the sky, shrouded
by incandescent layers of cloud and mist – a landscape
impossibly illuminated only by a pure spectrum of ink
and colour against a golden background. Painted in 1965,
Ancient Temples Amidst Clouds stands among the greatest
compositions in Zhang’s long and illustrious career. Suffused
with a radiant and mysterious light, adorned with vivid
splashes of green and blue morphing into expanses of rising
clouds and vegetation, the precipitous peak is depicted with
ancient temples that stand atop: displaying a tour de force of
the unique aesthetic that makes Zhang Daqian one of the
most provocative artists of the twentieth century.
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